What We’ve Learned About Paid Media in 2024

2024 has seen significant shifts in the paid media landscape. We’ve changed how we work and are seeing even better results for our clients. From Meta’s AI-driven algorithms to going all out on creative testing, this is a massive advantage to you in 2025 if you apply it in the right way. Here’s what’s worked for us:

Let Meta & Google do their thing

Facebook and Google are investing staggering sums to cement their dominance. These investments are primarily directed towards improving algorithms and developing advanced technologies, including artificial intelligence and machine learning, to increase revenue and shareholder value. It all sounds very capitalistic, and it is, but this is also good news for their customers, the advertisers.

The algorithms Google and Meta now have are far superior to any human in targeting customers based on demographics. AI technologies understand audiences on their platforms better than any human could fathom. So, trying to outsmart the algorithm by imprinting your thinking on a campaign is futile at best. Gone are the days of defining an ideal target audience and hoping it works. We can now let AI calculate the best audience and yield the best returns. We just need to know how to harness it. 

Luckily, Google and Facebook have made it easy because if you make money, then they make money. Their investment in AI can either grow your business or become a wasted opportunity.

Creative testing and iterating

If it’s so easy, where do agencies and consultancies fit in? The answer: marketing. It’s a bit like being back in the 1960s—but much more targeted! The role of an agency is to connect with the customer by delivering the right messages at the right time. The AI takes care of the rest.

We now have unparalleled insight into our marketing efforts. It’s no longer guesswork. We can test different concepts, see results in weeks (or days), and adapt. This continuous cycle is delivering incredible results. Our clients are achieving a return on ad spend (ROAS) of over 6; for every £1 invested in marketing, they see £6 in sales.

While technology has outpaced us in targeting, it still needs to improve in creating meaningful emotional connections. AI lacks the creative nuance to connect with people at a deeper level. Our job is to work with algorithms, combining technology and creativity. The role of agencies is now about delivering compelling messages. Success lies in careful creative brand-building aided by this technological revolution.

Focus on messaging

We have watched this play out in action throughout 2024. Advantage plus campaigns (Meta’s AI-optimised campaigns) were still in their infancy at the start of the year and there were admittedly some teething issues. But in the summer, an updated algorithm yielded spectacular results. Then, it was about adapting our processes to cater for these phenomenal results.

We went back to basics and concentrated our resources on delivering the right message and leaving Meta to find the right people. We’ve focused on testing creative assets and optimising to find the best return on investment.

Keeping it simple

We don’t just create ads for the sake of it. Ads should do either one of three things (the Know, Like, Trust factor):

1. Make people aware of you

2. Build a relationship with them

3. Grow trust in you

Building boundaries

We’ve developed transparent and trusted relationships with clients. We agree on brand boundaries and creative guidelines, but the rest is up to us. We test and iterate within these boundaries to grow your brand equity through paid media.

We changed our audience matrix

Meta allows us to segment our audience into new audiences, engaged visitors, and existing customers. Demographics don’t matter here; we’re focused on the customer journey and what messaging to apply to the right audience at the right time.

The most critical and profitable point is understanding that paid advertising isn’t just for new customers. People who have bought from you might not be subscribed to your emails or don’t open them regularly. This is your chance to speak directly to them. And Meta allows us to target them directly, with specific messaging tailored to the fact that they have bought before. This builds relationships, keeps your brand top of mind and has been proven to increase customer lifetime value, which is directly correlated to the sustainable growth of your business.

For example, we set up a separate retention campaign with creative assets and messaging that explicitly targets existing customers. We recently took advantage of this strategy by promoting a specific product at a discount to particular customers who have visited a specific page on the client's website. We consistently see that the cost of getting customers to purchase again is a fraction for new customers. Would they have made a purchase anyway? Maybe, but not all. The benefit of speaking directly to your customers about your brand and what it stands for is also of value.

We view the process as a race

The creative process is constantly evolving, and ads need to be relevant. We have had to continually experiment and add new ads into the mix to see which ones perform. Then we learn, iterate and push more successful ads out there. It’s a race because a great ad may not be so great a month later. It doesn’t matter if this is because of creative fatigue or seasonal changes; all that matters is that you have new ideas and new ways of connecting with your customers in the pipeline. This is so important now because of the fast-paced nature of social media and the limited time you have to grab a potential customer; this timeframe has been reduced to below a second, so creative that seems familiar won’t cut the mustard.

For example, we recently launched new ads to promote Christmas gifts in November (ensuring ads are relevant) and keeping to the strategy of knowing, trusting or loving the brand. We didn’t want to force these ads onto a specific audience. We let the algorithm decide if the ads are good enough and who to send them to. If they are not good enough, then the algorithm will not give them exposure because they aren’t good enough to get people to buy your product. This significantly reduces wasted ad spend.

The batch of ads that promote the Christmas gifts campaign has outperformed every other ad in the account, proving its value and ability to get people to purchase. This is because it is what people want to see on social media in late November: Christmas ads. In the new year, we would expect these ads to fall off a cliff, as people don’t want to buy Christmas gifts, so new creative assets need to be added, or the algorithm may switch back to older, more product-focused ads suited to the time of year. Giving the algorithm the ability to choose is the key to success, not specific targeting.

This has worked at all budget levels

Smaller budgets are fine. The race happens slower, and scaling your brand takes a bit longer, but it is 100% possible. Less resources are needed to create assets, and results are measured over slightly longer intervals.

Being able to present your message to new audiences, engaged visitors, and existing customers is much more cost-effective than segmenting by broad demographics and hoping for the best. Your limited budget can be concentrated on one strategy for maximum benefit rather than fragmenting it across different interest groups, which makes your money work harder.

What about 2025?

We think this will be the first year in which we will start to see how AI will change the paid media landscape.

Most agencies use standardised cookie-cutter campaign structures because they worked in the past. But the rules have changed. If you’d like to walk into 2025 with AI on your side, get in touch with ruth@threeofus.co